Old OS security | Atari BBS

Hey guys,

Since I have been having some speed issues with the celeron laptop the BBS's are running on I have been trying to figure out a way to move to another one of the computers I have laying around.

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro

A pi400

2 old pc towers

I wanted to try to move them to the MacBook using boot camp. So in reality it would just be a regular windows pc.

I did originally hack it to run on the latest macOS. I tried to install win10 in boot camp but when it goes to do some updates it pretty much breaks the video cards so win10/11 is a no go.

Now, I am trying to downgrade it back to the most recent macOS. (That used to be simple but it appears Apple may have shut down the high sierra network servers).

My thoughts are get it back down to a officially usable macOS. Then attempt a win7 boot camp install. (The most current macOS version only supports win10).

I think that may be my best option for this project. Now, with win7 and high sierra out of support, is there a way I can run win7 with some good security? I am just concerned one of our friends from Russia will hack in and create havoc with my network.

I know some of you guys are really good with windows (I am not) and if memory serves one of us may have been using win7 to run one of the boards. But I could be mistaken.

If I get win7 working I am going to try an upgrade path to win10 from 7 to see if the issue resided with apples boot camp drivers (or maybe to open source patcher I used to install the latest macOS)

Any suggestions appreciated.